Why Sinatra Matters

I only saw my hero, Frank Sinatra, perform once. It was at the end of his career - and his life. It was a strange evening; he was obviously at the end - he couldn't remember the words to his songs or read the teleprompter. Few people left however - the evening soon became about us - his fans - letting him know that we still loved him. "I LOVE YOU FRANK!" a huge, middle-aged, rough-looking man yelled out during a pause. Sinatra, taken aback by the violence of the outburst, chuckled and replied, "I love you too, pal." As Pete Hamill once pointed out, "Seeing Sinatra in ruins is like seeing the Coliseum in ruins - it's still magnificent."Why Sinatra Matters is a must-read for any Sinatra-phile. In the Overture, Hamill cites Sinatra's death as the impetus for writing this book. He saw all these young reporters from MTV and VH1 doing stories on Sinatra (obviously prepared in advance) telling the world Sinatra was important, without really understanding why. It certainly wasn't just because he did it "his way."This is a very short book. As Hamill points out it is not a "definitive biography" - although once he was in talks with Sinatra to write just that. It is, as the title plainly states, an explanation of why Sinatra matters - artistically and culturally - and why he always will. In terms of Culture, Hamill reminds the reader of a time when America felt it was morally obligated to persecute Italians - Sinatra helped change all that. Musically, the reasons are more complex. To put it succinctly, no one ever sounded like Sinatra before.The book is great because it also sheds light on Sinatra the man, who is often lost in the obscurity of his own public image. He was not just some gruff tough guy - a kind of idiot savant who could churn out a great recording in one take. He was a fiercely intelligent, well-read, well-cultured, self-educated man who worked hard at his craft. The most enjoyable parts of the book are the conversations Hamill recounts between himself and Sinatra. Most shocking of all - to me at least - was to imagine Sinatra using the F-word!

Pete Hamill hits the nail right on the head with this Sinatra book. No it's not a spicy, gossipy tellall - it a truthful essay on a man that has created music that the world marks time by. Sinatra Matters, made me think of the days from my childhood when the whole family would be sitting around a Christmas tree and instead of listening to Christmas music we were listening to Sinatra and maybe a Sinatra Christmas album would makes its way onto the turntable, but it was Sinatra all the way.

It is enough to say "Sinatra," any literate American knows that means only Frank Sinatra -- the singer, draft-dodger, actor, bully, womanizer, Mafia star, founder of the old Hollywood Rat Pack and the Chairman of the Bored. In this loving portrait, Hamill explains Sinatra as an American icon. In so doing, he explains a lot about the values of the United States; this isn't a country where you become an "American" by getting off the boat or, in today's terms, wading across a river. Several factors are involved; starting with basic talent, then a single-minded ability to work hard, plus an instinct for self-publicity, and finally that most American of all characteristics -- redemption, the ability to rise above defeat and start over. Sinatra is the only major star of the 1940's who remained popular into the 1980's and whose music has rarely been matched. The entertainment world has a voracious appetite for fresh young talent; for most, the formula for lasting success was nicely summed up in the 1949 film `Knock on Any Door' when Johnny Romano says, "Live fast, die young, and have a good-looking corpse." Sinatra tried and failed to get the part of Romano in the film, it went to John Derek. John who? Sinatra matters because he represents the American faith in redemption. He became the top vocalist in the early 1940's, was washed up by the end of the decade; then worked his way back to respectability and a roller coaster career. His story is as current as the year 2000, and Hamill's version of it will remain popular for years to come. It's the story of pride; in Sinatra's youth, the Italians were regarded with less favor than illegal Mexican immigrants today. Rosemary Clooney had a hit with "C'mon-a my house," which embarrassed Sinatra and made many Italians wince; Sinatra mastered the delicate intricacies of English pronunciation which enabled him to add subtle yet commanding enhancements. He wasn't simply a crooner, there were hundreds of those when he began his career in the late 1930's. He worked exceedingly hard to create a sound and mood that still defines the loneliness of a long empty night. Hamill brings out the character of Sinatra that made him a success. He ignores his dark alter ego, the "evil twin" that contributed nothing to the legend. This isn't a biography, although it covers much of Sinatra's life; the focus is on his success, then his redemption. For that reason, it's a better book than most biographies; instead of dates and places, Hamill explains what made Sinatra so popular. How else do you explain a kid who was a high school dropout, but who recorded hundreds of songs that had more impact than any diploma? It's why he was finally awarded an honorary doctorate from a college; success wasn't in following the old rules, it was a triumph over the odds. After reading "Why Sinatra Matters," it's easy to understand the success and intense hatred generated by two modern

I am the eleventh of twelve kids. I am 42, and come out of Brooklyn. I have walked the streets of Hoboken. It reminds me of Bay Ridge, but the Statue of Liberty is facing the other way, and the Twin Towers are so big and close. My father had a bar in Brooklyn: a place that catered to the lonely: longshoreman who didn't want to go home for whatever reasons, older women who were jilted by the latest bum. They drank, a concordat of losers. In silence, they smoked unfiltered cigarettes and listened to that guy on the jukebox. The guy who really felt their pain, decades before it became some rank political joke. The voice was Frank Sinatra's, and he was my hero since I could walk. Pete Hamill, whom I've been reading for over twenty-five years, has the lapidary's eye, the poet's words, in his brilliant analysis of Sinatra the man, and what his essence really meant. Speaking of Sinatra after his death, Hamill writes: "Now Sinatra is gone, taking with him all his anger, cruelty, generosity, and personal style. The music remains. In times to come, that music will continue to matter, whatever happens to our evolving popular culture. The world of my grand-children will not listen to Sinatra in the way four generations of Americans have listened to him. But high art always survives. Long after his death, Charlie Parker still plays his version of the urban blues, Billie Hoilday still whispers her anguish. Mozart still erupts in joy.....In their ultimate triumph over the banality of death, such artists continue to matter. So will Frank Sinatra." This slim volume is the best thing I've read about Sinatra. Hamill hides no blemishes, and still gives us a totality of the man that no other biographer could. Alas, most great singers and writers now repose on the other side of the grass. We no longer have Sinatra in the flesh, yet, through his music, he will outlive everyone. And in the year 2067, a young adult will listen to the unparalleled majesty of his voice for the first time, and then go to the library to read WHY SINATRA MATTERS by Pete Hamill to make some sense of it all. KEVIN FARRELL